Matt Blaze

mattblaze@federate.social

Scientist, safecracker, etc. McDevitt Professor of Computer Science and Law at Georgetown. Formerly UPenn, Bell Labs. So-called expert on election security and stuff. <a href="https://twitter.com/mattblaze" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no">https://twitter.com/mattblaze</a> on the Twitter. Slow photographer. Radio nerd. Blogs occasionally at <a href="https://www.mattblaze.org/blog" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no">https://www.mattblaze.org/blog</a> . I probably won't see your DM; use something else. He/Him. Uses this wrong.

Posts

Post #4503453
Videos of this years #VotingVillage talks should be up in the next week or so, AV gods willing. A couple people asked about my my "Intro to Election Security" slides. They don't make complete sense without the talk, but for the impatient, here they are: https://www.mattblaze.org/papers/vv2026-blaze.pdf
Post #4389461
Hmm, Trump just departed LAX en route Las Vegas. I wonder if he's planning to crash the Voting Village.
Post #4382989
Smithsonian "Castle", National Mall, Washington, DC, 2021 All the pixels, many of which make the administration nervous, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/51221570481 #photography
Post #4368553
@MontgomeryGator@fouroclockfarms.club What's a rhetorical question?
Post #4368531
If hackers are so smart, what are we doing in Las Vegas in August?
Post #4368102
To be fair, Trump's tax returns *were* leaked, and it's only fair he get the same compensation any American would under the circumstances: a year of free credit monitoring. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/business/trump-irs-todd-blanche.html?unlocked_article_code=1.21A.i6E1.ATX5VHWk_MEP
Post #4365562
Ground stop at DEN. Just heard them deliver the news to a plane about to start its takeoff roll at LAS “just taxi down the runway and call in when you reach the end as if you just landed”. https://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_otherdis?advn=208&adv_date=08032026&facId=DEN&title=ATCSCC%20ADVZY%20208%20DEN/ZDV%2008/03/2026%20CDM%20GROUND%20STOP&titleDate=08/03/2026
Post #4364577
The Voting Village will return to #defcon34 in W219-W220 this Friday-Sunday! In addition to the voting machine lab, we have some terrific, and newsworthy, talks this year. Come hear about de-anonymizing ballots in Georgia, and the inside scoop on the (unpublished) Puerto Rican election systems report, among many other things. https://info.defcon.org/defcon34/villages/41324
Post #4347751
Edge of Pacific Ocean, 2014 Additional pixels, each made of sand, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/14820439752 #photography
Post #4294622
One of the things I'm looking forward to heading to Las Vegas next week is seeing less gaudy, flashy, gold-leaf encrusted crap than in DC.
Post #4285497
Had my physical today, for the first time involving a cardiac stress test. Was worried it would wear me out, but reaching a gate at Dulles airport is definitely much harder.
Post #4279587
FAA "BRIJJ" Station, Foster City, CA, 2024 All the pixels, cleared for landing, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/54128020212 #photography
Post #4269580
There should be some kind of medal for fully completing the Black Hat, BSidesLV, DEFCON, Usenix Security, HOPE, Crypto conference marathon. (I will not be receiving this medal)
Post #4266717
My enthusiasm for assembling my camera kit in anticipation of stealing some time to photograph the Las Vegas urban landscape is not being helped by the temperature forecast.
Post #4251303
RE: https://mastodon.social/@andreamm/117010585163840329 Welcome to the future, where the TV volume is controlled by "the corporate office".
Post #4211775
Schuylkill Co-Generation Plant and Arsenal Bridge, Philadelphia, PA, 2018 All the pixels, none of the jawn, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/42660696454 #photography
Post #4203237
Sen. Joe McCarthy notoriously smeared those who invoked their rights before his committee as “fifth amendment communists”. I suppose Rand Paul will talk about “fifth amendment scientists” now.
Post #4179180
Reminder: Telling people - especially strangers - who are being harassed online to "just ignore it" is, at best, not at all helpful.
Post #4175380
RE: https://dmv.community/@rvaweather/116999980486856753 Tornado warning in VA.
Post #4174722
Oh great, a tornado watch.
Post #4173445
We have an AWESOME lineup (if I do say so myself) for the Voting Village this year. Sneak peak of the schedule soon. Watch this space.
Post #4155866
Mysterious card, handed to me by a disreputable trickster.
Post #4148918
Major T-Mobile outage, started earlier in Western ststes, seems to have just hit NYC metro area.
Post #4102955
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @cvvhrn@sfba.social I very much appreciate vendors (like DigiKey, etc) that tell you, honestly, exactly what their own stock status is.
Post #4095150
RE: https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/116982022921976813 The administration’s politicization of election security is extremely unfortunate and unproductive, and now it’s spreading internationally. I’m not familiar enough with Brazil’s election technology and processes to comment authoritatively, but it sounds like the situation there is similar to the US: the use of insecure voting technology (such as DRE voting machines) introduces some real security vulnerabilities, but there’s no evidence of actual...
Post #4090899
Steak and Bagel Train, Philadelphia, PA, 2011 All the pixels, but definitely no bagels, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/5432394381 #photography
Post #4073927
RE: https://journa.host/@samlitzinger/116977188940191449 Destroying trust in our elections isn't enough for them. They want to destroy our faith in history and our own memory.
Post #4073667
In the "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there aren't microphones everywhere" category, Trent Park, a mansion bugged from top to bottom that was used to house (and monitor) captured Nazi commanders, is now a museum in London. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/arts/design/trent-park-spy-museum.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0FA.1H9c.xpI3-LLc26tW They did the same thing (at Farm Hall, a different mansion) with Nazi nuclear scientists. One of the first things they rec...
Post #4039990
Commuter Trains, Ewing (West Trenton), NJ, 2010 All the pixels, reduced fare on weekends and off-peak hours, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4377309058 #photography
Post #4024586
I could enumerate all the details of my life that led me to navigate the particular moral choices I've ended up making about my housing, transportation, finance, desktop and mobile operating systems, etc. Or I could simply note that peoples' circumstances and values vary, and that this is none of your damn business.